Four decades ago, legions of young people trekked to San Francisco and its famed Haight Asbury district, the epicenter for the youth-driven counterculture revolution that was transforming American culture. They came for peace, politics, community, love…and they came for the music, the most enduring legacy of that very special place and time. It has proven to be the element that really tells the true story of San Francisco in the 1960s. Love Is The Song We Sing : San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970 is a comprehensive portrait of the psychedelic scene in San Francisco from the late 60’s into the Summer Of Love right through into the early 70’s and the scene’s influence on music then and still continuing to this day. The hippie folk beginnings of bands like The Charlatans and Country Joe and The Fish to the early Grateful Dead are all here. Garage rockers like The Count Five or the Chocolate Watchband bring on the fuzztone guitars. The subsequent LSD influenced morphing of the two genres into what we now call psychedelia is well represented here with bands like Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service. The early sounds of free form FM radio with acts like Santana and Janis Joplin are also here. This box documents the birth of a movement as well as it’s impact on society at large. An amazing snapshot of an incredibly creative period in American music history. Grab your favorite mind altering substance, pop this set on and be transported to another time when everyone believed music could fuel a revolution.

This is just about everywhere, but who cares I’m going to do it too. In case you haven’t seen this yet, it’s amazing. Last night’s surprise guest appearance by Regine and Win of Arcade Fire with Bruce Springsteen in Ottowa, Ontario CA.

Elmore James was one of the true pioneers of electric slide guitar whose influence san still be heard in modern day players for the Allman Brothers to The White Stripes.

More from Allmusic guide:No two ways about it, the most influential slide guitarist of the postwar period was Elmore James, hands down. Although his early demise from heart failure kept him from enjoying the fruits of the ’60s blues revival as his contemporaries Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf did, James left a wide influential trail behind him. And that influence continues to the present time — in approach, attitude and tone — in just about every guitar player who puts a slide on his finger and wails the blues. As a guitarist, he wrote the book, his slide style influencing the likes of Hound Dog Taylor, Joe Carter, his cousin Homesick James and J.B. Hutto, while his seldom-heard single-string work had an equally profound effect on B.B. King and Chuck Berry. His signature lick — an electric updating of Robert Johnson’s “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” and one that Elmore recorded in infinite variations from day one to his last session — is so much a part of the essential blues fabric of guitar licks that no one attempting to play slide guitar can do it without being compared to Elmore James. Others may have had more technique — Robert Nighthawk and Earl Hooker immediately come to mind — but Elmore had the sound and all the feeling.

Some photos from last night’s show at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia. The Cave Singers took the stage around 10:30 and played an enjoyable set of the quirky indie folk that stayed pretty true to the sound on their new record Invitation Songs. I didn’t manage to get any pictures during their set, sorry guys.Taking the stage in Philadelphia for the first time in nearly two years, Black Mountain was on next. They played a set heavy on new songs from their upcoming record, In The Future, which if last night is any indication, is going to be excellent. Their set was a rhythmic, ebbing and flowing juggernaut of psychedelic power. A mind altering experience with or without any help from your recreational substance of choice. One of the best shows I’ve seen this year, and if they haven’t been to your town yet , I highly recommend checking them out.

One more Springsteen influenced post today. If you’ve heard Girls In Their Summer Clothes off of the new Magic album you’ve heard the wall of sound production inspired by Phil Spector‘s work in the late fifties early sixties. Though not all of these were produced by Phil Spector, they all employ the wall of sound production style Bruce is emulating.

Although their name may be reminiscient of a sound you’ll hear on the new Radiohead album, Squaaks music is not. Their bio describes their sound as “crunchy guitars, a driving rhythm and catchy melodies” and it’s right on the money. Their new album Rock Control is part sixties garage rock, part eighties post punk with songs that are catchy and often lighthearted. They’re also not afraid to show they have a sense of humor, check out the opening track of the disc, Two Hippies, and you’re sure to crack a smile. Catch ’em this Friday in Philly on the bill with American Princes, The New Motels, and The Sw!ms at The Khyber.

Did you ever have that dream where you meet some of the most well respected songwriters of a generation and suddenly you’ve absorbed all of their musical knowledge and songwriting skills ? James Taylor, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, Gordon Lightfoot, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Brian Wilson they’re all there and you’re just soaking it all in. Well, I haven’t had that dream either, but The Silver Seas must have because their new record High Society is all that and more rolled into one. It feels like you’re listening to an old favorite from the word go, familiar enough to be comfortable yet still new enough to be engaging.

High Society is set for a November 13th release on Cheap Lullaby Records[The Silver Seas were formerly The Bees (U.S)]

Bruce Springsteen’s new album Magic was released this past Tuesday. In honor of the two shows in Philadelphia he’ll be performing tonight and tomorrow night, 5 songs that embody the “magic” Bruce has become renowned for. Up first, what may be the single most definitive version of any Springsteen song, Incident on 57th Street from February 1975, live at The Main Point in Philadelphia. A pair of songs from the 1978 tour, Growing Up complete with one of his famed storytelling interludes, and Prove It All Night with a blazing guitar workout intro. An amazing reworking of It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City from closing night of the Devils and Dust tour, and a early breathtaking acoustic version of the song where the line “Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night” originated, Thunder Road from 1974.